WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 03: Joel Ward #29 of the Nashville Predators celebrates with teammates after scoring in the third period against the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center on October 3 2010 in Washington DC. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
The Nashville Predators finished off their preseason schedule in style today, putting together a 3-0 win on the road against Alex Ovechkin and the high-flying Washington Capitals. Pekka Rinne turned aside 22 shots for the win, and Joel Ward scored twice (once shorthanded) for the Preds.
Follow after the jump for a few other highlights, and the advanced stats from today's game...
Celebrate the start of the regular season, and take advantage of a special offer to save big on Nashville Predators tickets.
Cal O'Reilly also made a big impact, opening the scoring in the second period as he centered a line with Steve Sullivan (who had two assists on the day) and Patric Hornqvist. You really couldn't ask for a better tune-up for the regular season, beating a Cup-contender on the road, shutting down the biggest offensive juggernaut in the league, and seeing your #1 goalie lock down the shutout.
The lineup we saw this afternoon is quite likely what will open the season Saturday night against Anaheim. Jonas Andersson, Sergei Kostitsyn, Jamie Lundmark, Wade Belak and Alexander Sulzer were scratched. The defense pairings were generally Suter/Weber, Bouillon/Klein, and Parent/Franson, while the forward lines were Erat-Lomardi-Wilson, Ward-Legwand-Dumont, Sullivan-O'Reilly-Hornqvist, and Smithson-Goc-Tootoo.
For an explanation of the table below, head over here...
| Even Strength | Individual Totals | Team Totals While Player Is On Ice | ||||||||||
| Player | Pos | EV TOI | Shots | Shts Blkd | Missed Shts | Blocks | SOG For | SOG Ag | SOG +/- | Tot SF | Tot SA | Corsi |
| Jordin Tootoo | R | 14:03 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 16 | -3 |
| Matthew Lombardi | C | 13:48 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| David Legwand | C | 13:40 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| Joel Ward | R | 13:24 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 5 |
| Marcel Goc | C | 13:14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 11 | 14 | -3 |
| Jerred Smithson | R | 13:05 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 11 | 13 | -2 |
| J-P Dumont | R | 12:41 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 13 | -2 |
| Colin Wilson | C | 12:38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| Martin Erat | R | 12:29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Cal O'Reilly | C | 10:37 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 8 | 10 | -2 |
| Steve Sullivan | L | 9:48 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 9 | -1 |
| Patric Hornqvist | R | 9:36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 6 | 12 | -6 |
| Shea Weber | D | 18:29 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 10 | 16 | -6 |
| Kevin Klein | D | 18:14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 22 | -4 |
| Ryan Suter | D | 17:48 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 14 | -4 |
| Francis Bouillon | D | 17:44 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 17 | 2 |
| Ryan Parent | D | 16:14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 0 |
| Cody Franson | D | 13:28 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 8 | 8 |
To keep up with all of our coverage of the Nashville Predators, you can subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Twitter (@Forechecker, @predatweeter, @SLakePreds & @Short_Shifts) or catch the site on Facebook (now at www.facebook.com/OnTheForecheck). You can also email me at the.forechecker@gmail.com.
Poll
Who is your Predator of the Game?
Pekka Rinne, 22 saves & shutout (71 votes)
Steve Sullivan, 2 assists (5 votes)
Joel Ward, 2 goals (101 votes)
177 total votes
There are 18 Comments. Load Now.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.